


Something Like Home

by alocalband



Series: OMGCP Tumblr Ficlets [3]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Fluff, Living Together, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-22 19:49:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9622928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alocalband/pseuds/alocalband
Summary: It’s the beginning of their junior year, and the first year that they’ll be sharing living space in the attic of the Haus. Some part of Nursey knew, the moment they got Ransom and Holster’s dibs last Spring, that this was going to end in disaster.Except it turns out that it’s not the kind of disaster that Nursey would have predicted.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here on Tumblr](http://alocalband.tumblr.com/post/147650344405/happy-nurseydex-week-this-is-for-the-prompt) :)

It doesn’t take a genius to see that Dex has been quietly freaking out ever since they got back from summer break. Not that it’s _surprising_. Well. The “quietly” might be a little surprising. The “freaking out,” not so much.

It’s the beginning of their junior year, and the first year that they’ll be sharing living space in the attic of the Haus. Some part of Nursey knew, the moment they got Ransom and Holster’s dibs last Spring, that this was going to end in disaster.

Except it turns out that it’s not the kind of disaster that Nursey would have predicted.

Sure, he and Dex don’t fight as much as they used to, but their favorite past time is still a good argument. Chowder seems to have accepted that this is just their default mode when around each other, but Bitty worries that one of them will eventually get caught up in the heat of the moment, say something he doesn’t mean, and then their whole careful balancing act will all come crashing down on their heads.

Bitty’s probably not wrong.

But, so far, the arguing hasn’t been the problem. Hell, Nursey would kill for some yelling and screaming at this point, instead of the silent, internal battle he can see being waged in Dex’s eyes every time Nursey gets within a few feet of him.

The thing is, even at their worst, he and Dex have always had each other’s backs. No matter what. And after two years on the same line, sitting together on the bus for every away game, chirping each other at every given opportunity while throwing threatening glances at anyone else who so much as looks at the other the wrong way… they’ve become friends.

Or so Nursey thought.

He’s not so sure anymore, honestly. Not when any time he enters a room, he can see Dex’s shoulders immediately tense, his lips purse into a tight line, his gaze go so hard and sharp on anything that _isn’t_ his new roommate that Nursey’s surprised no one’s come away bleeding yet.

Dex doesn’t say anything, though. He clenches his hands into fists, he frowns, he won’t meet Nursey’s eyes… But he’s quiet about it. Nods his head along to whatever pathetic excuse for a conversation starter Nursey has desperately started to pull out, and then mumbles a quick excuse about being late to a class or a study group.

They live in the same freaking room, and yet the last time Nursey managed to see Dex off the ice for more than three minutes was at the first team breakfast of the year, _two whole weeks ago_ , and only then because Bitty had made it mandatory.

“I didn’t, like, say something extra douchey on the group chat over the summer and not realize it, did I?” Nursey picks at his scrambled eggs, but doesn’t feel much like eating suddenly. Dex was already gone when he woke up this morning, per usual, and obviously isn’t coming to breakfast. Again.

Chowder frowns at him from across the cafeteria table, considering. “Well, you did post a lot of pictures of your coffee orders.”

“But nothing offensive, right?”

“Oh no, definitely not.”

Nursey sighs and slumps down a little lower in his seat. He knew it was a long shot. But it was easier to pretend that maybe he’d just put his foot in his mouth at some point since last spring, than it was to accept the fact that Dex seems to find being roommates with him so reprehensible that he’s started waking up to leave the Haus at four in the freaking morning every day, and not letting himself return until well after midnight.

But maybe it wouldn’t _hurt_ so much if Nursey just didn’t _care_ so much. _Too_ much, really. More than he’s allowed himself to care in a very long time. 

Because the thing is that Derek Nurse knows exactly what happens when he cares about other people to the degree that both his head and his heart always want him to. He learned that lesson young, and since then has determinedly drawn a hard line in the sand when it comes to his own feelings.

Until Dex. 

Until last spring, to be specific. When their arguments started devolving into hushed, meaningful conversations in the middle of the night, their teammates fast asleep on the bus around them. When Dex stopped pulling away from Nursey’s casually flung arm around his shoulders, and started leaning into it. When Nursey found himself turning down opportunities to hook up with people at parties, but didn’t realize what it meant until he woke up hungover on Dex’s dormroom floor, and despite the headache, despite the dry mouth and disorientation, felt safer and happier than he had in who knows how long.

And that’s what it comes down to ultimately. Somewhere along the lines, Dex started to feel _safe_. Maybe not safe in the traditional way, all fight and fire and insecurity. But safe in the way that _home_ is, even when "home" is a dysfunctional mess. In the way that makes Nursey feel like he belongs to a somewhere that‘s actually a someone.

So Nursey let himself fall.

He’s realizing now that it may well have been the worst decision he’s ever made.

Nursey skips his last class of the day and heads straight back to the Haus, not feeling up for much more than a nap at this point. He doesn’t even notice Dex is already in the room, seated at the desk, until he’s thrown his coat and bag aside and is glaring at the ladder to his top bunk bed like it’s intentionally mocking him by not letting him just throw himself face first onto a mattress like he wants.

He only just catches Dex look up from his homework, startled, out of the corner of his eyes. And when Nursey turns to face him, has to watch as Dex’s whole body tenses like he’s under assault.

Nursey sighs and runs a hand over his weary features. He’s just… He’s done. He made the mistake of caring, it blew up in his face like he should have known it would, and now he just wants it to stop hurting. He’s done.

“Do you want me to move out?” he asks without preamble.

Dex nearly jump out of his chair. “What?”

“I’m not saying it wouldn’t suck, but I have the money. I can go rent one of those apartments down the block where some of the soccer guys live. They’re pretty cool.”

“Why the hell would you–“

“Because you obviously hate this!” Nursey erupts, and then swallows roughly, trying to pull himself back together. “And I don’t. But I hate watching you avoid me just because sharing a room is too much or… whatever. Which is fine. I get that I’m not the kind of person that’s very likable once you get past the surface.” He shrugs, even if it stings, because he’s always known this about himself. Once you get past the cool exterior and the superficial good looks, Derek Nurse is just an overly romantic klutz who can’t even get his own parents to pick up the phone most days.

Dex stands up abruptly, looking stricken, his cheeks flushed, his lips slightly parted. “Nursey, I think you’ve got that backwards.”

“Oh so you _don’t_ hate living with me?”

“No, I do, but I–”

Nursey chokes on a wounded noise. Knowing the truth and hearing it out loud are apparently two entirely different brands of hurt.

Dex stutters to a stop and quickly backtracks, “I mean, not because I– Shit. Nursey, look, yes it’s about all that beneath the surface stuff, and I hate sharing a room with you because I’m constantly faced with it. With the real you, the one that no one else gets to see, and I can’t fucking stand how much I– How much I love it.”

“You… _what_?” Nursey gapes.

Dex moves forward like he’s not aware he’s doing it, wringing his hands together and shaking his head ruefully. “God, do you know how badly I wish I’d never found out that you talk in your sleep? Or that you’re secretly obsessed with those stupid _3 Ninjas_ movies? Or that you let Farmer drag you with her to every animal shelter in a hundred mile radius to walk dogs for hours? Because I’m in love with all of it, and I can barely _think straight_ around you anymore and _I hate it_.”

“You hate it…” Nursey draws in a deep breath and hopes he’s getting this right, “because you love it?”

Dex ducks his head and averts his eyes. “I’m sorry. I’ve been trying to get over it and stay away, but I’ve barely gotten three hours of sleep a night in ages and now I’ve probably ruined everything–“

“I love it too,” Nursey interrupts, tripping forward a few steps in his haste to get this out. “Everything about you basically. _You._ I… Since last spring. Probably even before, but I didn’t let myself realize it for a long time.”

“…Oh.”

Nursey reaches a hand out, brushes his knuckles up one side of Dex’s jaw. Dex closes his eyes and drifts forward, settling his hands on Nursey’s hips.

“I’ve missed fighting with you,” Nursey whispers. “And I’ve missed not fighting with you even more.”

“God, me too,” Dex whispers back.

The kiss is gentle, slow. It feels somehow familiar in how comfortable and _right_ it is, as if they’ve always been able to do this. As if they’ve always just… fit.

They pull apart as gently as they came together, careful of breaking what doesn’t actually feel as fragile as Nursey had feared. Dex hums contentedly, his eyes still closed, only to have it turn into a yawn.

Nursey laughs. “Okay, buddy, I think it’s naptime.” Dex’s hands grip him a little tighter at that, not letting go any time soon. It fills Nursey with a contented feeling that simultaneously thrills and soothes him. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.”

Once settled on Dex’s bed together, everything in Nursey’s head and heart seems to settle along with them. Dex is warm beneath him, and Nursey can’t believe he gets to have this. Whether it’s for a moment or forever, _he gets to have this._

Nursey runs his nose along the short hairs on the back of Dex’s head. He lightly traces lines with his fingertips between the freckles on Dex’s arms. He falls asleep feeling, for one of the first times in his life, like he’s exactly where he’s supposed to be. Like he _belongs_. 

Like he’s home.


End file.
